A native of Kanazawa, Ishikawa and graduate of the University of Tokyo, he had worked at Hokkoku Shimbun, a regional newspaper in Kanazawa since 1989 and had served in the assembly of Ishikawa Prefecture since 2002. He was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 2004. He is the Minister in charge for regional revitalization under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the reshuffled Second Kishida Cabinet as of 10 August 2022.[1]